Activists, with fists in the air, have decried it at rallies. Observers, with their ideals, have contended it on talk shows. Comedians, with their satire, have lampooned it on television. 

And, now, four movie directors with cameras in hand will take their shot against corrupt practices in an upcoming movie that captures snippets of daily dishonesties that are in truth tantamount to corruption. 

“A scene in my movie shows three high school students conversing in their school canteen about textbook prices,” said one of the directors, Chaerun Nissa. 

Chaerun Nissa, or Ilun, shot the short film Pssst.. Jangan Bilang Siapa-Siapa (Pssst.. Don’t Tell Anyone), which will be featured in the anti-corruption movie.

“One of the characters is saying how the teacher told her to jack up the book prices in exchange for good marks when she levied payments from her friends,” she said. 

She added that she had chosen to tell a story about the marking up of book prices because the practice has become banal even among students who ask “twice the price of the books” from their parents to get extra cash. 

“And students accept the higher marks offered by teachers because they think they earned it for the effort they put into collecting the money,” she said. 

Lasya F. Susatyo, the director of another short titled Aku Padamu (Me to You), also drew inspiration from the commonplace practice of couples who slip in “extra” fees to the civil registration agency so they can be issued a wedding certificate faster. 

“The bride-to-be in the movie, however, refuses to succumb to such practices because she does not want to begin her marriage with deceit,” she told The Jakarta Post. 

She added that she decided to participate in the anticorruption movie project, organized by Transparency International Indonesia under a tight budget, because she saw how corruption has worsened in the country. 

“I am a filmmaker and so I make my contribution to the fight against corruption through movies,” she said. 

Similarly, Nicolas Saputra, who acts as the groom-to-be in the movie, said everybody was “obliged to fight against corruption according to their field” of work. 

“So it is suiting that I, as an actor in films, participate in a movie production that speaks about corruption in Indonesia,” he said in the midst of the film shoot. 

Another director, Ine Febriyanti, said she felt challenged to make a film with anticorruption messages given that she herself had grown apathetic to corruption in Indonesia. 

“At first, I was puzzled about what story to tell because the topic of corruption repulses me,” she said. 

She eventually found inspiration in her father and decided to shoot a film about a warehouse guard living in the tough times following the Malari incident in 1974. 

Although the guard’s child was ill, he refused the bribes people offered to him to illegally stockpile rice in the warehouse. 

Malari, short for Tragedy on January Fifteenth, was a student protest against corruption and foreign investment that turned bloody.  

Fast forward to the present, the child grew up into a person who refuses to be corrupt. 

“I would like to show that our principles come from our fathers,” she said. 

The fourth filmmaker, Emil Heradi, pointed out that anticorruption movies had to package hefty messages in simplicity for the sake of viewers. 

“We avoided using political jargon,” he said, adding that the moviemakers concentrated more on capturing the human aspects of corruption. 

“My movie is about a village chief who has to return a favor to a businessman who funded his campaign. I try to show the relation between the two men in a human light, such as how the village chief behaves at his home,” he said. 

The film’s producer, Abduh Aziz, said that capturing the human face of corruption was a softer approach to making viewers understand corruption compared to media reports that place heavy emphasis on the figures of corrupted funds. 

“This is because the target of the movie is the young generation and how their world brushes with corruption,” he said. 

He said that in order to reach this audience the movie will be screened at schools and film festivals. The cast and crew of the films will also conduct road shows where discussions about corruption will be held. 

“We will also try to have the movie screened at theaters,” he said, adding that the movie would be launched early next year. 

Transparency International secretary-general Teten Masduki said the films were an “effective medium” to spark “the growth of new values” for a cleaner future. 

“The youth are on the borderline between the corrupt and the clean. If this condition does not receive any attention, the regeneration of corruption will occur, guaranteeing its continuance,” he said. 

He added that the movie has received the support of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).  

KPK public service and education director Dedie A. Rachman said the movie came at a good time as the corruption eradication efforts of the KPK, which has been in the lead in corruption eradication through judiciary means, have been facing severe challenges. 

Legislator Fahri Hamzah even suggested dissolving the KPK, which has met with a fury of arguments. 

Dedie said the KPK needed the support of the creative community as well because dealing with all the cases under a shortage of staff has their hands full, leaving them with less time to design new anticorruption campaign strategies. 

The KPK’s image has waned as well under criticism that the commission has left the powerful masterminds of corruption untouched. 

“We would like to join hands with more people,” he said, adding that this included artists and cultural experts. 

Nicolas Saputra said that people, especially youth, would see corruption from a broader perspective through the film.   

“Corruption is not only about going into other people’s money. It can also involve supporting injustice, doing things outside of procedure and even coming late,” he told the Post. 

“The movie might not change [youth] instantly, but it will hopefully fill their minds with an understanding of what corruption is.”

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/21/filming-corruption-daily-life.html